Everything around us is made up of some substance or mass. These substances or materials can be real, solid or something that we taste, feel or even smell. The chemicals that the substances are made from generated chemical reactions. The chemical reactions that were being studied caused one famous scientist to develop a law about chemical reactions. Joseph Louis Proust was a French Chemist who came up with a law in the 18th century that governed the chemical reaction. Proust’s law or discovery is known as the Law of Constant Composition, also called the Law of Definite Proportions. This paper will detail the history of Joseph Proust and his contribution to the atomic theory.
Early Life of Proust
Joseph Louis Proust, named after his father, …show more content…
Proust reviewed the works of another scientist and chemist. One French chemist that Proust often debated was C.L. Berthollet (Hayes, 2012). Berthollet suggested that substances separated and did not always have a definite proportion. (Hahn, 2018). After much debate, in 1799, Proust hypothesized that substances remain the same, thus discovering his Law of Constant Proportion (Hayes, …show more content…
He validated that substances will only change if something is added to or taken away from the original substance. Prior to Proust’s’ discovery, the atom did not have much meaning. Scientists, chemists, physicists were studying these substances of matter, however, they still did not understand atoms prior to the atomic theory (Hayes, 2012). As Proust set to prove a different theory from Berthollet, Proust put his thoughts into action through experimenting with different chemicals. Proust investigated and observed substances and chemicals from 1798 to 1804 (Helmenstine, 2017). Some of the compounds and chemicals that Proust used during his experimental process was an artificial (fake) copper carbonate o natural copper carbonate (Hayes 2012). Proust started out by showing that the copper had a “fixed ratio of elements” (Hayes, 2012). In this case, Proust proved that no matter how you changed the numbers, the weight proportion in copper oxide, copper and oxygen was always present and remained the same (Hayes, 2012). Based on Proust’s experiments, he concluded that the mass and proportions of elements stay the same. Proust stated his law as “A given compound always has the same proportion of it’s constituent elements by mass” (Hayes, 2012). According to Hayes (2012), Proust’s hypothesis was tested and tried in 1794 and which point he published his work on his
Early Life of Proust
Joseph Louis Proust, named after his father, …show more content…
Proust reviewed the works of another scientist and chemist. One French chemist that Proust often debated was C.L. Berthollet (Hayes, 2012). Berthollet suggested that substances separated and did not always have a definite proportion. (Hahn, 2018). After much debate, in 1799, Proust hypothesized that substances remain the same, thus discovering his Law of Constant Proportion (Hayes, …show more content…
He validated that substances will only change if something is added to or taken away from the original substance. Prior to Proust’s’ discovery, the atom did not have much meaning. Scientists, chemists, physicists were studying these substances of matter, however, they still did not understand atoms prior to the atomic theory (Hayes, 2012). As Proust set to prove a different theory from Berthollet, Proust put his thoughts into action through experimenting with different chemicals. Proust investigated and observed substances and chemicals from 1798 to 1804 (Helmenstine, 2017). Some of the compounds and chemicals that Proust used during his experimental process was an artificial (fake) copper carbonate o natural copper carbonate (Hayes 2012). Proust started out by showing that the copper had a “fixed ratio of elements” (Hayes, 2012). In this case, Proust proved that no matter how you changed the numbers, the weight proportion in copper oxide, copper and oxygen was always present and remained the same (Hayes, 2012). Based on Proust’s experiments, he concluded that the mass and proportions of elements stay the same. Proust stated his law as “A given compound always has the same proportion of it’s constituent elements by mass” (Hayes, 2012). According to Hayes (2012), Proust’s hypothesis was tested and tried in 1794 and which point he published his work on his